Golkar rethinks Habibie nomination
Golkar rethinks Habibie nomination
JAKARTA (JP): The ruling Golkar Party apparently is
reconsidering its recent choice of President B.J. Habibie as its
presidential candidate.
Golkar chairman Akbar Tandjung and deputy chairman Marzuki
Darusman -- who has previously opposed Habibie's nomination --
pointed out on two separate occasions on Sunday and Monday the
nomination could be revoked under particular circumstances.
Akbar, in unusually critical remarks, acknowledged on Sunday
the public questioned Habibie's commitment to tracing the
allegedly ill-gotten wealth of former president Soeharto and his
family.
"The issue has been raised by Time magazine, so Habibie could
not remain silent," he said as quoted by Antara before thousands
of Golkar supporters in Surabaya, East Java.
He charged Habibie did not do his utmost to implement the
mandate and decrees of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR),
especially on the eradication of corrupt, collusive and
nepotistic practices.
"In the coming MPR session (planned for November), Golkar will
evaluate Habibie's account. If it is good, Golkar will support
him well.
"If his account of leadership is rejected, how can we support
him?"
Akbar also identified several other issues on which Habibie
failed to pay serious attention, including unsolved human rights
abuses in the country. He also noted that many Chinese-
Indonesians fled the country for fear of unrest before or during
the elections.
"This means that President Habibie could not give a sense of
security to the community."
He acknowledged, however, Habibie's success on the economic
front, such as lowering banking interest rates, keeping inflation
down and pushing up the rupiah's exchange rate against the
greenback.
"In the political sector, Habibie has issued a number of
policies conducive to the development of democratic life, such as
giving press freedom, releasing political prisoners and detainees
and permitting the establishment of more political parties."
Marzuki suggested on Monday in Jakarta that Habibie's
nomination might be reconsidered after the June 7 elections. The
new president is due to be chosen in November.
"Golkar's decision to nominate Habibie cannot be annulled, but
one must pay attention to the development of politics after the
campaign and elections," Darusman told reporters.
"It means that a decision to nominate Habibie is still valid
but this will not close the chances of further development."
Asked whether it might include reconsidering Habibie's
nomination, he replied: "Yes".
Habibie said on Saturday in an interview with CNN which aired
on Monday that he was pushing for a constitutional change which
would allow Indonesians to directly elect their president.
"The real democracy, is, I think, the direct election of the
president by the people." He termed the current system a two-step
process under which the "sovereignty of over 200 million people
is being reduced to 700 people".
He blamed his mentor for the system's deficiencies, calling it
"a mistake of the former president (Soeharto) in 32 years".
Under the current system, the people vote for the 462 elected
members of the 500-seat legislature, whose members then join 200
appointees from the regions and nonpolitical groupings to form
the People's Consultative Assembly.
The assembly will in November elect the president for a five-
year term.
Meanwhile, in the South Kalimantan capital of Banjarmasin,
Abdurrahman Wahid of the National Awakening Party (PKB) said he
could forgive Soeharto if he returned his purported billion-
dollar fortune to the country.
"PKB will forgive Soeharto if he returns his assets and
fortune to the country," Abdurrahman was quoted as saying by
Antara during a party function.
In a related development, National Mandate Party (PAN)
chairman Amien Rais said in Yogyakarta his democratic principles
would allow him to accept whoever won the elections and was
elected president.
"I am optimistic though that I would have a strong bargaining
power (after elections) to be elected president," he said.
(23/prb/swe/byg)